Tie remover and spike puller



Ogt. 1, 1963 J. K. STEWART- v 3,105,674

7 TIE REMOVER AND SPIKE PULLER' v Filed March 12, 1959 5 SheetsSheet 11, 1963 V .1. K. STEWART 3,105,674

TIE REMOVER AND SPIKE FULLER Filed March 12, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Oct.1, 1963 J. K. STEWART TIE REMOVER AND sum: FULLER 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 FiledMarch 12, 1959 llllll 523% was 7 :4 T role/V675.

Oct. 1, 1963 J. K. STEWART TIE REMOVER AND SPIKE FULLER 5 Sheets-Sheet 4Filed March 12, 1959 Oct. 1, 1963 J. K. STEWART 3,105,674

1 TIE REMOVER AND SPIKE FULLER, Filed March 12, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 vVENTOE (/a/v/v K Srzm/ T hf WWW United States Patent Office PatentedGet. 1, 1963 3,105,674 THE REMOVER AND SFIKE FULLER John KennethStewart, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, assignor to Canada Iron Foundries,Limited, Montreai, Quebec, Canada Filed Mar. 12, 1959, Ser. No. 798,8931 Claim. (Cl. ZS t- IS) This invention relates to a machine forinserting and removing railway ties.

It has previously been proposed to provide a machine of this type inwhich pairs of jaws are hydraulically operated by a first piston andcylinder arrangement to clamp a tie, the jaws and tie being subsequentlymoved by means of a second piston cylinder arrangement, and both of saidpiston and cylinder arrangement being controlled by manually operatedvalves. This prior proposal has the disadvantage that as the resistanceto movement of the tie builds up the jaws are liable to slip along thetie until the operator opens the valve for said first piston andcylinder arrangement to eflect a tighter clamping of the jaws. On theother hand if the jaws are clamped as tightly as possible to begin withthis is detrimental to the tie and in most cases is entirelyunnecessary.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a machine forinserting and removing railway ties which does not suffer from the abovedisadvantage.

'It is another object of the invention to provide a machine of the typestated in combination with mechanism for pulling the spikes from railwayties to allow removal thereof.

According to the invention there is provided in a machine for insertingand removing railway ties wherein hydraulically operated jaws areadapted to clamp and move a tie by means of first and second piston andcylinder arrangements respectively, the improvement which compriseslinking both of said piston and cylinder arrangements to the source ofpressurized hydraulic fluid through a common valve whereby an increasein pressure required by said second piston and cylinder arrangement inmoving the tie will automatically entail a corresponding increase inpressure in said first piston and cylinder arrangement to clamp the jawstighter on the tie, the clamping operation automatically being effectedprior to the moving operation by providing the piston of said firstpiston and cylinder arrangement vw'th a working area utilised inclamping the jaws substantially greater than that of the piston of saidsecond piston and cylinder atrangement.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way ofexample with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic front elevation of a railway maintenancevehicle having a spike puller and tie renewing mechanism mountedthereon;

FIGURE 2 is a view of the tie renewing mechanism and hydraulicconnections therefor;

FIGURE 3 is a view taken from the right-hand side of FIGURE *2;

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 2 with parts broken away and partsin section;

FIGURE 5 is a detailed view of the piston and cylinder arrangement foropening and closing the tie clamping jaws;

FIGURE 6 is a part-sectional elevation of the spike puller;

FIGURE 7 is a part-sectional vie-w at right angles to FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 8 is a plan View of the spike puller handle assembly;

FIGURE 9 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the vehicle showing how thespike puller is mounted thereon and FIGURE 10 is a partial sectionalview of the connection between the spike puller and the supportingplate.

As shown in FIGURE 1 a railway maintenance vehicle 1, mounted on railengaging wheels 2, has mounted thereon mechanism 3 for removing andinserting railway ties, a rectangular framework 4- mounted for easymanipulation in a vertical direction, and a spike puller 5 adapted fortransverse movement along said framework 4. A hydraulic circuitconsisting of a reservoir, pump and suitable connections is alsoprovided on the vehicle for actuating the tie renewing mechanism andspike puller but only the characteristics of such circuit which arepeculiar to the present invention will be described herein. The pump isdriven by a gasoline driven self-contained power unit mounted on thevehicle.

Referring now to FIGURES 2 through 5, the tie removing and insertingmechanism illustrated comprises a pair of tie clamping jaws 6, 7pivotally mounted at their upper ends, as at 8 and 9, on the piston rod10* and cylinder 11, respectively, of a double acting piston andcylinder arrangement and pivotally mounted intermediate their ends, asat 12, 13 respectively, on a slide 14 adapted to be reciprocated with acylinder 15 slidably mounted on a piston 16 and piston rod 17. Thepiston rod 17 extends through the cylinder 15 and is secured at one endto a bracket 18 and at its other end to a web 1.9. The slide 14 has twoapertures 20, 21 to accommodate guide rods 22', 23 which are alsosecured at their ends to bracket 18 and web 19'.

Pressurized hydraulic fluid is fed to and exhausted from the cylinders-11 and 15 through a common control valve 24 and suitable connections 25to 30. Flexible pipes 25 and 26 connect valve 24 with the ends ofcylinder 11. Flexible pipes 27 and 28 are paralleled off from pipes 25and 26 and lead to a manually controlled valve 31 which is connectedwith the ends of cylinder 15 through flexible pipe 29 and rigidconnection 30. Valve 24 controls both the clamping or unclampingoperation and the movement of the jaws to and from a rail 32 of arailway track and valve 31 controls the sequence of operations. Thus, inone position of valve 31, some of the fluid flowing through pipe 25flows into cylinder 11 to effect clamping of the jaws and some is causedto flow through pipe 27 and connection 30 to elfect outward movement ofthe jaws with cylinder 15. In this position of the valve, the mechanismis adapted for removing a tie 33. To adapt it for inserting a tie, valve31 is moved to another position so that the flow of fluid is divertedthrough pipe 29 to move the jaws inward after they have been clamped.

To ensure automatic clamping of the jaws prior to movement of cylinder15, the working area 34 of piston 35 utilized for the clamping operationis made substantially, preferably 15 percent, greater than the workingarea 36 of piston 16. Thus, a greater force is exerted by thepressurized fluid to clamp the jaws than to cause movement of cylinder15 which carries the jaws. Moreover, it follows from the parallel feedto cylinders 11 and 15 from common valve 24 that any increase inpressure required in cylinder 15 to overcome resistance to movement ofthe jaws, created for example by friction between the tie and theballast, will automatically entail a corresponding increase in pressurein cylinder 11, thus causing the jaws 6, 7 to grip the tie more tightlyand prevent the jaws from slipping along the tie.

The working area 37 on the other side of piston 35 need not necessarilybe greater than the working area 36 of piston 16 since the pressurebuild-up required in cylinder 11 to eitect unclamping of the jaws 6, 7is obviously less than the pressure build-up required in cylinder 15 tomove the cylinder 15, slide 14, jaws 5, '7, valve 31 and the tie 33clamped by the jaws. Thus, the jaws will automatically open in any eventbefore the commencement of the return stroke of cylinder 15.

The bracket 18 of the tie removing and inserting mechanism describedabove is upwardly recessed to bridge a tie transversely and is fixedlysecured to a sleeve 18A. Sleeve 18A is slidably mounted on a shaft 183borne by a bracket 18C. Bracket 18C also has mounted thereon adownwardly depending flange member 18D. Bracket -8 is adapted to engagethe outer edge of the base flange of a rail, as shown in FIGURE 2, andflange member ISD is adapted to engage the inner side of the ball of therail.

Provision is made for relative movement of about 1 inch between sleeve18A and shaft 13B. Thus, when a tie is being removed, the reaction forcewill cause the sleeve 18A to ride inwards to ensure close abuttal ofbracket 18 with the base flange of the rail, thus preventing the railfrom being moved with the tie. Conversely, when a tie is being inserted,the reaction force will cause close abuttal of flange member 189 withthe ball of the rail.

Bracket 13C is attached to sleeve 18F which forms an integral part of acylinder 38 adapted for vertical reciprocation on a piston 3%. Thepiston 39 is rigidly mounted on the wheeled railway maintenancevehicle 1. The cylinder 38 is supplied with pressurized hydraulic fluidthrough a manually operated control valve 4% adjacent valve 24 andthrough the connection 38A and the port 383. Thus, when a tie replacingoperation has been completed and it is desired to move on, the operatoropens valve 49 to admit fluid to the top of cylinder 38 through the port385. Since the piston 39 is rigidly attached to the vehicle the cylinder38 moves upwards relatively thereto and in so doing carries therewithits integral sleeve 18F and consequently the tie renewing mechanismwhich is secured thereto until the jaws of that mechanism clear the topof the newly inserted tie. The operator then closes the valve and thevehicle is moved along the track until the jaws are disposed upon thenext tie to be worked upon. The operator opens valve 40 to exhaust thefluid from cylinder 38 whereupon the weight of thetie renewing mechanismcauses the cylinder 38 to move down relative to the piston 39 andexhaust the hydraulic fluid through the port 58B. When the point wherethe jaws are disposed on either side of the tie to be worked upon isreached the operator again closes the valve. By use of the valves 24 and31 the cycle of operation is repeated.

The spike puller is provided for pulling the spikes from a tie about tobe removed. The spike puller comprises a cylinder ii, a casing 42mounted on the lower end of cylinder 41, a piston 43 slidably mounted incylinder 41, a piston rod 44 extending through the bottom of cylinder 41into casing 42, and a lazy-tongs arrangement 45 mounted on the lower endof piston rod 44 and having spike-engaging pincers 46.

As shown in FIGURE a bracket 47 secured to the casing 42 has a cross-pin48 with an enlarged bulbous centre portion 4-9 adapted to seat in aneyelet 50 having an interior wall of spherical configuration so that thespike puller is capable of limited universal movement to facilitatepositioning of the pincers over a spike to be pulled.

The eyelet 5i} extends outwardly from a plate 51 which has groovedrollers 52. adapted to run on the top edge of the lower beam ofrectangular framework 4. The spike puller can thus be moved transverselyon rollers 52 across the full width of a railway track to pull thespikes adjacent both rails.

As previously stated, the framework 4 is mounted for easy verticalmanipulation. For this purpose it is provided with rollers 64) which runin vertical guide channels 61 at the front of the vehicle and withcompression springs 62 which extend diagonally downwards to anchoragebrackets 63 at the rear of the vehicle. The tension in springs 62 isadjustable so that the framework 4 and spike puller 5 can normally bemaintained in an elevated position, but can be pushed down with aminimum of eifort to engage pincers 46 with the head of a spike to bepulled.

Lateral stability of the framework 4 is provided by means of two chains64 which extend from the upper beam of the framework around uppersprockets 65 and lower sprockets 66 to the lower beam of the framework.

The sprockets 65 and 66 are mounted on guide channels.

61 and a shaft 67 extends between the two lower sprockets 66 forrotation therewith. Thus, if an upward or downward push is exerted onone end only of framework 4, movement of that end will be transmittedautomatically to the other end through the chain at that end, the lowersprocket at that end, the shaft 6'7, the lower sprocket at the otherend, and the chain at the other end. Thus, the upper and lower beams offramework 4 are always maintained perpendicular to the guide channels61.

A port 53 (FIGURE 6) for pressurized hydraulic'fluid' is provided in thewall of cylinder 41 and an air or gas inlet valve 54 is provided at thetop of the cylinder. The handle assembly 55 of the spike puller has abell-crank lever portion 56 pivoted at 57 and having a cable 58 attachedthereto for controlling a remote valve (not shown) which in turncontrols the flow of hydraulic fluid to and from the cylinder 41.

Before the spike puller is put into operation, air or gas is pumpedthrough valve 54 to establish a pressure of between 36 and 50 psi. inthe cylinder space above the piston. The spike puller is then positionedabove a spike to be pulled and is lowered so as to engage the pincers 46with'the head ofa spike. The pincers 46 open automatically upon contactwith the spike head and close to grip the spike as soon as the initialpull is triggered by swinging the lever 56 to introduce pressurizedfluid into cylinder 41 below piston 43 to raise the latter. Lever 56 isheld in its new position until continued upward movement of piston 43causes the pivot pins 455; of lazy-tongs arrangement 45 to engage inupwardly divergent guide slots 59a of a guide member 59 for effectingthe opening of pincers 46 to release the pulled spike. Movement of lever56 back to its original position opens the lower end of cylinder 41 toexhaust through port 53, thus allowing the pressurized air or gas abovepiston 43 to return the lazy tongs arrangement 45 to its initialposition as shown in FIGURE 6. The pincers 46 are prevented fromrotating relative to the casing 42 by engagement of the ends of pivotpin 35i; in a transverse slot 42a in the casing \Vhat I claim as myinvention is:

A railway maintenance vehicle having rail engaging wheels and comprisinga rectangular guide framework extending transversely of the vehicle atthe front end thereof, a pair of upstanding guide channel members spacedapart and mounted on said vehicle, first rollers on said frameworkengaging in said guide channel members for movement therein, chain meansconnected at both ends thereof to the framework, sprocket membersrotatably mounted at the top and bottom of each of the guide members;said chain means being entrained over the sprocket members, a shaftcoupled to and extending between the bottom sprockets on each of theupstanding guide channel members to transmit the rotation of one bottomsprocket to the other; a plate member, second rollers rotatablyjournalled on said plate member and mounting said plate member formovement on saidrectangular guide framework; a fluid operated spikepuller; means connecting said fluid operated spike puller and saidplate, said means comprising universal connections including a ball andsocket joint between said fluid operated spike puller and said plate;and compression springs connected to said rectangular framework andextending diagonally away from said frame to anchorage brackets at therear of the vehicle, whereby the spike puller is normally maintained inan elevated position and can be readily moved downwardly, the spikepuller adapted to be moved laterally in said frame and to be moveddirectly vertically to position the spike puller directly over a spike,the universal connections between the spike puller and plate permittingfinal angular adjustment of the spike puller to engage a spike.

1,808,896 Jackson June 9, 1931 Hursh Jan. 24, 1956 6 Swallert Feb. 21,1956 Sublett et al. Aug. 5, 1958 Kershaw Oct. 13, 1959 Geier et al. Feb.2, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS France Apr. 9, 1952 OTHER REFERENCES PublicationA, Apr. 11, 1957.

